Real time decision making for autonomous driving vehicles

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method, apparatus, and system may predict behavior of environmental objects using machine learning at an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV). One or more yield/overtake decisions are made with respect to one or more objects in the ADV&#39;s surrounding environment using a data processing architecture comprising at least a first, a second, and a third neural networks, the first, the second, and the third neural networks having been trained with a training data set. Driving signals are generated based at least in part on the yield/overtake decisions to control operations of the ADV.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to operatingautonomous vehicles. More particularly, embodiments of the disclosurerelate to using machine learning algorithms in decision making incontrolling autonomous vehicles.

BACKGROUND

Vehicles operating in an autonomous mode (e.g., driverless) can relieveoccupants, especially the driver, from some driving-relatedresponsibilities. When operating in an autonomous mode, the vehicle cannavigate to various locations using onboard sensors, allowing thevehicle to travel with minimal human interaction or in some caseswithout any passengers.

Making decisions regarding surrounding objects is one of the keycomponents in the autonomous driving technology. One type of decision tomake is the yield/overtake decision with respect to a moving object inthe autonomous driving vehicle (ADV)'s surrounding environment whosepath intersects the ADV's planned path. The yield/overtake decision isdefined based on the intersect time at the crossing point between theobject's and the ADV's paths. If the object reaches the crossing pointbefore the ADV, the ADV has “yielded” to the object. On the other hand,if the ADV reaches the crossing point before the object, the ADV has“overtaken” the object.

Making decisions based on machine learning is generally difficultbecause it requires hand-labeled data for training. It is also timeconsuming because decisions need to be made with respect to each objectin an iterative fashion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system according toone embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an autonomousvehicle according to one embodiment.

FIGS. 3A-3B are block diagrams illustrating an example of a perceptionand planning system used with an autonomous vehicle according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating various layers within a convolutionalneural network (CNN) according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating training and deployment of a deepneural network according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing architectureaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example method for automaticallylabeling training data with yield/overtake decisions according to oneembodiment.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating example visual representationsof data according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for making adecision in autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) operations using machinelearning, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing systemaccording to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments and aspects of the disclosures will be describedwith reference to details discussed below, and the accompanying drawingswill illustrate the various embodiments. The following description anddrawings are illustrative of the disclosure and are not to be construedas limiting the disclosure. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventionaldetails are not described in order to provide a concise discussion ofembodiments of the present disclosures.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin conjunction with the embodiment can be included in at least oneembodiment of the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” in various places in the specification do not necessarilyall refer to the same embodiment.

In one embodiment, a method, apparatus, and system may be provided formaking a decision in operating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) usingmachine learning. One or more yield/overtake decisions are made withrespect to one or more objects in the ADV's surrounding environmentusing a data processing architecture comprising at least a first, asecond, and a third neural networks, the first, the second, and thethird neural networks having been trained with a training data set.Thereafter, driving signals are generated based at least in part on theyield/overtake decisions to control operations of the ADV.

In one embodiment, the one or more objects comprise automobiles,bicycles, and/or pedestrians. The first neural network is a multilayerperceptron; the second neural network is a convolutional neural network(CNN); and the third neural network is a fully-connected network.

In one embodiment, the first neural network receives historical featuresof the one or more objects from one or more previous planning cycles asinputs, and generates extracted historical features of the one or moreobjects as outputs; the second neural network receives the extractedhistorical features of the one or more objects and map information asinputs, and generates data encoding both the extracted historicalfeatures of the one or more objects and the map information as outputs;and the third neural network receives the encoded data and historicalfeatures of the ADV as inputs, and generates the one or moreyield/overtake decisions comprising decisions with respect to each ofthe one or more objects as outputs.

In one embodiment, the historical features of the one or more objectscomprise one or more of: a position, a speed, or an acceleration. Themap information is derived from a high-definition map and comprises oneor more of: a lane feature component, a traffic signal component, astatic object component, or a general map information component.

In one embodiment, the extracted historical features of the one or moreobjects and the map information are labeled with associated blockinformation based on a grid subdivision of a rectangular perception areaof the ADV, the grid subdivision comprising subdividing the rectangularperception area of the ADV into a plurality of uniformly sizedrectangular blocks based on a grid.

In one embodiment, the encoded data and the historical features of theADV are concatenated before being fed into the third neural network. Thetraining data set comprises previously recorded driving and objectperception data automatically labeled with yield/overtake decisions.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous vehicle networkconfiguration according to one embodiment of the disclosure. Referringto FIG. 1, network configuration 100 includes autonomous vehicle 101that may be communicatively coupled to one or more servers 103-104 overa network 102. Although there is one autonomous vehicle shown, multipleautonomous vehicles can be coupled to each other and/or coupled toservers 103-104 over network 102. Network 102 may be any type ofnetworks such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN)such as the Internet, a cellular network, a satellite network, or acombination thereof, wired or wireless. Server(s) 103-104 may be anykind of servers or a cluster of servers, such as Web or cloud servers,application servers, backend servers, or a combination thereof. Servers103-104 may be data analytics servers, content servers, trafficinformation servers, map and point of interest (MPOI) servers, orlocation servers, etc.

An autonomous vehicle refers to a vehicle that can be configured to inan autonomous mode in which the vehicle navigates through an environmentwith little or no input from a driver. Such an autonomous vehicle caninclude a sensor system having one or more sensors that are configuredto detect information about the environment in which the vehicleoperates. The vehicle and its associated controller(s) use the detectedinformation to navigate through the environment. Autonomous vehicle 101can operate in a manual mode, a full autonomous mode, or a partialautonomous mode.

In one embodiment, autonomous vehicle 101 includes, but is not limitedto, perception and planning system 110, vehicle control system 111,wireless communication system 112, user interface system 113,infotainment system 114, and sensor system 115. Autonomous vehicle 101may further include certain common components included in ordinaryvehicles, such as, an engine, wheels, steering wheel, transmission,etc., which may be controlled by vehicle control system 111 and/orperception and planning system 110 using a variety of communicationsignals and/or commands, such as, for example, acceleration signals orcommands, deceleration signals or commands, steering signals orcommands, braking signals or commands, etc.

Components 110-115 may be communicatively coupled to each other via aninterconnect, a bus, a network, or a combination thereof. For example,components 110-115 may be communicatively coupled to each other via acontroller area network (CAN) bus. A CAN bus is a vehicle bus standarddesigned to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with eachother in applications without a host computer. It is a message-basedprotocol, designed originally for multiplex electrical wiring withinautomobiles, but is also used in many other contexts.

Referring now to FIG. 2, in one embodiment, sensor system 115 includes,but it is not limited to, one or more cameras 211, global positioningsystem (GPS) unit 212, inertial measurement unit (IMU) 213, radar unit214, and a light detection and range (LIDAR) unit 215. GPS system 212may include a transceiver operable to provide information regarding theposition of the autonomous vehicle. IMU unit 213 may sense position andorientation changes of the autonomous vehicle based on inertialacceleration. Radar unit 214 may represent a system that utilizes radiosignals to sense objects within the local environment of the autonomousvehicle. In some embodiments, in addition to sensing objects, radar unit214 may additionally sense the speed and/or heading of the objects.LIDAR unit 215 may sense objects in the environment in which theautonomous vehicle is located using lasers. LIDAR unit 215 could includeone or more laser sources, a laser scanner, and one or more detectors,among other system components. Cameras 211 may include one or moredevices to capture images of the environment surrounding the autonomousvehicle. Cameras 211 may be still cameras and/or video cameras. A cameramay be mechanically movable, for example, by mounting the camera on arotating and/or tilting a platform.

Sensor system 115 may further include other sensors, such as, a sonarsensor, an infrared sensor, a steering sensor, a throttle sensor, abraking sensor, and an audio sensor (e.g., microphone). An audio sensormay be configured to capture sound from the environment surrounding theautonomous vehicle. A steering sensor may be configured to sense thesteering angle of a steering wheel, wheels of the vehicle, or acombination thereof. A throttle sensor and a braking sensor sense thethrottle position and braking position of the vehicle, respectively. Insome situations, a throttle sensor and a braking sensor may beintegrated as an integrated throttle/braking sensor.

In one embodiment, vehicle control system 111 includes, but is notlimited to, steering unit 201, throttle unit 202 (also referred to as anacceleration unit), and braking unit 203. Steering unit 201 is to adjustthe direction or heading of the vehicle. Throttle unit 202 is to controlthe speed of the motor or engine that in turn control the speed andacceleration of the vehicle. Braking unit 203 is to decelerate thevehicle by providing friction to slow the wheels or tires of thevehicle. Note that the components as shown in FIG. 2 may be implementedin hardware, software, or a combination thereof.

Referring back to FIG. 1, wireless communication system 112 is to allowcommunication between autonomous vehicle 101 and external systems, suchas devices, sensors, other vehicles, etc. For example, wirelesscommunication system 112 can wirelessly communicate with one or moredevices directly or via a communication network, such as servers 103-104over network 102. Wireless communication system 112 can use any cellularcommunication network or a wireless local area network (WLAN), e.g.,using WiFi to communicate with another component or system. Wirelesscommunication system 112 could communicate directly with a device (e.g.,a mobile device of a passenger, a display device, a speaker withinvehicle 101), for example, using an infrared link, Bluetooth, etc. Userinterface system 113 may be part of peripheral devices implementedwithin vehicle 101 including, for example, a keyboard, a touch screendisplay device, a microphone, and a speaker, etc.

Some or all of the functions of autonomous vehicle 101 may be controlledor managed by perception and planning system 110, especially whenoperating in an autonomous driving mode. Perception and planning system110 includes the necessary hardware (e.g., processor(s), memory,storage) and software (e.g., operating system, planning and routingprograms) to receive information from sensor system 115, control system111, wireless communication system 112, and/or user interface system113, process the received information, plan a route or path from astarting point to a destination point, and then drive vehicle 101 basedon the planning and control information. Alternatively, perception andplanning system 110 may be integrated with vehicle control system 111.

For example, a user as a passenger may specify a starting location and adestination of a trip, for example, via a user interface. Perception andplanning system 110 obtains the trip related data. For example,perception and planning system 110 may obtain location and routeinformation from an MPOI server, which may be a part of servers 103-104.The location server provides location services and the MPOI serverprovides map services and the POIs of certain locations. Alternatively,such location and MPOI information may be cached locally in a persistentstorage device of perception and planning system 110.

While autonomous vehicle 101 is moving along the route, perception andplanning system 110 may also obtain real-time traffic information from atraffic information system or server (TIS). Note that servers 103-104may be operated by a third party entity. Alternatively, thefunctionalities of servers 103-104 may be integrated with perception andplanning system 110. Based on the real-time traffic information, MPOIinformation, and location information, as well as real-time localenvironment data detected or sensed by sensor system 115 (e.g.,obstacles, objects, nearby vehicles), perception and planning system 110can plan an optimal route and drive vehicle 101, for example, viacontrol system 111, according to the planned route to reach thespecified destination safely and efficiently.

Server 103 may be a data analytics system to perform data analyticsservices for a variety of clients. In one embodiment, data analyticssystem 103 includes data collector 121 and machine learning engine 122.Data collector 121 collects driving statistics 123 from a variety ofvehicles, either autonomous vehicles or regular vehicles driven by humandrivers. Driving statistics 123 include information indicating thedriving commands (e.g., throttle, brake, steering commands) issued andresponses of the vehicles (e.g., speeds, accelerations, decelerations,directions) captured by sensors of the vehicles at different points intime. Driving statistics 123 may further include information describingthe driving environments at different points in time, such as, forexample, routes (including starting and destination locations), MPOIs,road conditions, weather conditions, etc.

Based on driving statistics 123, machine learning engine 122 generatesor trains a set of rules, algorithms, and/or predictive models 124 for avariety of purposes. In one embodiment, algorithms 124 may include aneural network-based data processing architecture for makingyield/overtake decisions for operating the ADV.

Algorithms 124 can then be uploaded on ADVs to be utilized duringautonomous driving in real-time.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating an example of aperception and planning system used with an autonomous vehicle accordingto one embodiment. System 300 may be implemented as a part of autonomousvehicle 101 of FIG. 1 including, but is not limited to, perception andplanning system 110, control system 111, and sensor system 115.Referring to FIGS. 3A-3B, perception and planning system 110 includes,but is not limited to, localization module 301, perception module 302,prediction module 303, decision module 304, planning module 305, controlmodule 306, routing module 307, machine learning module 308.

Some or all of modules 301-308 may be implemented in software, hardware,or a combination thereof. For example, these modules may be installed inpersistent storage device 352, loaded into memory 351, and executed byone or more processors (not shown). Note that some or all of thesemodules may be communicatively coupled to or integrated with some or allmodules of vehicle control system 111 of FIG. 2. Some of modules 301-308may be integrated together as an integrated module.

Localization module 301 determines a current location of autonomousvehicle 300 (e.g., leveraging GPS unit 212) and manages any data relatedto a trip or route of a user. Localization module 301 (also referred toas a map and route module) manages any data related to a trip or routeof a user. A user may log in and specify a starting location and adestination of a trip, for example, via a user interface. Localizationmodule 301 communicates with other components of autonomous vehicle 300,such as map and route information 311, to obtain the trip related data.For example, localization module 301 may obtain location and routeinformation from a location server and a map and POI (MPOI) server. Alocation server provides location services and an MPOI server providesmap services and the POIs of certain locations, which may be cached aspart of map and route information 311. While autonomous vehicle 300 ismoving along the route, localization module 301 may also obtainreal-time traffic information from a traffic information system orserver.

Based on the sensor data provided by sensor system 115 and localizationinformation obtained by localization module 301, a perception of thesurrounding environment is determined by perception module 302. Theperception information may represent what an ordinary driver wouldperceive surrounding a vehicle in which the driver is driving. Theperception can include the lane configuration, traffic light signals, arelative position of another vehicle, a pedestrian, a building,crosswalk, or other traffic related signs (e.g., stop signs, yieldsigns), etc., for example, in a form of an object. The laneconfiguration includes information describing a lane or lanes, such as,for example, a shape of the lane (e.g., straight or curvature), a widthof the lane, how many lanes in a road, one-way or two-way lane, mergingor splitting lanes, exiting lane, etc.

Perception module 302 may include a computer vision system orfunctionalities of a computer vision system to process and analyzeimages captured by one or more cameras in order to identify objectsand/or features in the environment of autonomous vehicle. The objectscan include traffic signals, road way boundaries, other vehicles,pedestrians, and/or obstacles, etc. The computer vision system may usean object recognition algorithm, video tracking, and other computervision techniques. In some embodiments, the computer vision system canmap an environment, track objects, and estimate the speed of objects,etc. Perception module 302 can also detect objects based on othersensors data provided by other sensors such as a radar and/or LIDAR.

For each of the objects, prediction module 303 predicts what the objectwill behave under the circumstances. The prediction is performed basedon the perception data perceiving the driving environment at the pointin time in view of a set of map/rout information 311 and traffic rules312. For example, if the object is a vehicle at an opposing directionand the current driving environment includes an intersection, predictionmodule 303 will predict whether the vehicle will likely move straightforward or make a turn. If the perception data indicates that theintersection has no traffic light, prediction module 303 may predictthat the vehicle may have to fully stop prior to enter the intersection.If the perception data indicates that the vehicle is currently at aleft-turn only lane or a right-turn only lane, prediction module 303 maypredict that the vehicle will more likely make a left turn or right turnrespectively.

For each of the objects, decision module 304 makes a decision regardinghow to handle the object. For example, for a particular object (e.g.,another vehicle in a crossing route) as well as its metadata describingthe object (e.g., a speed, direction, turning angle), decision module304 decides how to encounter the object (e.g., overtake, yield, stop,pass). Decision module 304 may make such decisions according to a set ofrules such as traffic rules or driving rules 312, which may be stored inpersistent storage device 352.

Routing module 307 is configured to provide one or more routes or pathsfrom a starting point to a destination point. For a given trip from astart location to a destination location, for example, received from auser, routing module 307 obtains route and map information 311 anddetermines all possible routes or paths from the starting location toreach the destination location. Routing module 307 may generate areference line in a form of a topographic map for each of the routes itdetermines from the starting location to reach the destination location.A reference line refers to an ideal route or path without anyinterference from others such as other vehicles, obstacles, or trafficcondition. That is, if there is no other vehicle, pedestrians, orobstacles on the road, an ADV should exactly or closely follows thereference line. The topographic maps are then provided to decisionmodule 304 and/or planning module 305. Decision module 304 and/orplanning module 305 examine all of the possible routes to select andmodify one of the most optimal routes in view of other data provided byother modules such as traffic conditions from localization module 301,driving environment perceived by perception module 302, and trafficcondition predicted by prediction module 303. The actual path or routefor controlling the ADV may be close to or different from the referenceline provided by routing module 307 dependent upon the specific drivingenvironment at the point in time.

Based on a decision for each of the objects perceived, planning module305 plans a path or route for the autonomous vehicle, as well as drivingparameters (e.g., distance, speed, and/or turning angle), using areference line provided by routing module 307 as a basis. That is, for agiven object, decision module 304 decides what to do with the object,while planning module 305 determines how to do it. For example, for agiven object, decision module 304 may decide to pass the object, whileplanning module 305 may determine whether to pass on the left side orright side of the object. Planning and control data is generated byplanning module 305 including information describing how vehicle 300would move in a next moving cycle (e.g., next route/path segment). Forexample, the planning and control data may instruct vehicle 300 to move10 meters at a speed of 30 mile per hour (mph), then change to a rightlane at the speed of 25 mph.

Based on the planning and control data, control module 306 controls anddrives the autonomous vehicle, by sending proper commands or signals tovehicle control system 111, according to a route or path defined by theplanning and control data. The planning and control data includesufficient information to drive the vehicle from a first point to asecond point of a route or path using appropriate vehicle settings ordriving parameters (e.g., throttle, braking, steering commands) atdifferent points in time along the path or route.

In one embodiment, the planning phase is performed in a number ofplanning cycles, also referred to as driving cycles, such as, forexample, in every time interval of 100 milliseconds (ms). For each ofthe planning cycles or driving cycles, one or more control commands willbe issued based on the planning and control data. That is, for every 100ms, planning module 305 plans a next route segment or path segment, forexample, including a target position and the time required for the ADVto reach the target position. Alternatively, planning module 305 mayfurther specify the specific speed, direction, and/or steering angle,etc. In one embodiment, planning module 305 plans a route segment orpath segment for the next predetermined period of time such as 5seconds. For each planning cycle, planning module 305 plans a targetposition for the current cycle (e.g., next 5 seconds) based on a targetposition planned in a previous cycle. Control module 306 then generatesone or more control commands (e.g., throttle, brake, steering controlcommands) based on the planning and control data of the current cycle.

Note that decision module 304 and planning module 305 may be integratedas an integrated module. Decision module 304/planning module 305 mayinclude a navigation system or functionalities of a navigation system todetermine a driving path for the autonomous vehicle. For example, thenavigation system may determine a series of speeds and directionalheadings to affect movement of the autonomous vehicle along a path thatsubstantially avoids perceived obstacles while generally advancing theautonomous vehicle along a roadway-based path leading to an ultimatedestination. The destination may be set according to user inputs viauser interface system 113. The navigation system may update the drivingpath dynamically while the autonomous vehicle is in operation. Thenavigation system can incorporate data from a GPS system and one or moremaps so as to determine the driving path for the autonomous vehicle.

The machine learning module 308 may implement a data processingarchitecture with machine learning techniques, such as neural networksor predictive models 313, usable to generate predictions or makedecisions based on known data.

A machine learning algorithm is an algorithm that can learn based on aset of data. Embodiments of machine learning algorithms can be designedto model high-level abstractions within a data set. For example, imagerecognition algorithms can be used to determine which of severalcategories to which a given input belong; regression algorithms canoutput a numerical value given an input; and pattern recognitionalgorithms can be used to generate translated text or perform text tospeech and/or speech recognition.

An exemplary type of machine learning algorithm is a neural network.There are many types of neural networks; a simple type of neural networkis a feedforward network. A feedforward network may be implemented as anacyclic graph in which the nodes are arranged in layers. Typically, afeedforward network topology includes an input layer and an output layerthat are separated by at least one hidden layer. The hidden layertransforms input received by the input layer into a representation thatis useful for generating output in the output layer. The network nodesare fully connected via edges to the nodes in adjacent layers, but thereare no edges between nodes within each layer. Data received at the nodesof an input layer of a feedforward network are propagated (i.e., “fedforward”) to the nodes of the output layer via an activation functionthat calculates the states of the nodes of each successive layer in thenetwork based on coefficients (“weights”) respectively associated witheach of the edges connecting the layers. Depending on the specific modelbeing represented by the algorithm being executed, the output from theneural network algorithm can take various forms.

Before a machine learning algorithm can be used to model a particularproblem, the algorithm is trained using a training data set. Training aneural network involves selecting a network topology, using a set oftraining data representing a problem being modeled by the network, andadjusting the weights until the network model performs with a minimalerror for all instances of the training data set. For example, during asupervised learning training process for a neural network, the outputproduced by the network in response to the input representing aninstance in a training data set is compared to the “correct” labeledoutput for that instance, an error signal representing the differencebetween the output and the labeled output is calculated, and the weightsassociated with the connections are adjusted to minimize that error asthe error signal is backward propagated through the layers of thenetwork. The network is considered “trained” when the errors for each ofthe outputs generated from the instances of the training data set areminimized.

A neural network can be generalized as a network of functions having agraph relationship. As is well-known in the art, there are a variety oftypes of neural network implementations used in machine learning. Oneexemplary type of neural network is the feedforward network, aspreviously described.

A second exemplary type of neural network is the Convolutional NeuralNetwork (CNN). A CNN is a specialized feedforward neural network forprocessing data having a known, grid-like topology, such as image data.Accordingly, CNNs are commonly used for compute vision and imagerecognition applications, but they also may be used for other types ofpattern recognition such as speech and language processing and decisionmaking in the context of autonomous driving vehicles. The nodes in theCNN input layer are organized into a set of “filters” (feature detectorsinspired by the receptive fields found in the retina), and the output ofeach set of filters is propagated to nodes in successive layers of thenetwork. The computations for a CNN include applying the convolutionmathematical operation to each filter to produce the output of thatfilter. Convolution is a specialized kind of mathematical operationperformed by two functions to produce a third function that is amodified version of one of the two original functions. In convolutionalnetwork terminology, the first function to the convolution can bereferred to as the input, while the second function can be referred toas the convolution kernel. The output may be referred to as the featuremap. For example, the input to a convolution layer can be amultidimensional array of data that defines the various color componentsof an input image. The convolution kernel can be a multidimensionalarray of parameters, where the parameters are adapted by the trainingprocess for the neural network.

The exemplary neural networks described above can be used to performdeep learning. Deep learning is machine learning using deep neuralnetworks. The deep neural networks used in deep learning are artificialneural networks composed of multiple hidden layers, as opposed toshallow neural networks that include only a single hidden layer. Deeperneural networks are generally more computationally intensive to train.However, the additional hidden layers of the network enable multisteppattern recognition that results in reduced output error relative toshallow machine learning techniques.

Deep neural networks used in deep learning typically include a front-endnetwork to perform feature recognition coupled to a back-end networkwhich represents a mathematical model that can perform operations (e.g.,object classification, speech recognition, decision making, etc.) basedon the feature representation provided to the model. Deep learningenables machine learning to be performed without requiring hand craftedfeature engineering to be performed for the model. Instead, deep neuralnetworks can learn features based on statistical structure orcorrelation within the input data. The learned features can be providedto a mathematical model that can map detected features to an output. Themathematical model used by the network is generally specialized for thespecific task to be performed, and different models will be used toperform different task.

Once the neural network is structured, a learning model can be appliedto the network to train the network to perform specific tasks. Thelearning model describes how to adjust the weights within the model toreduce the output error of the network. Backpropagation of errors is acommon method used to train neural networks. An input vector ispresented to the network for processing. The output of the network iscompared to the desired output using a loss function and an error valueis calculated for each of the neurons in the output layer. The errorvalues are then propagated backwards until each neuron has an associatederror value which roughly represents its contribution to the originaloutput. The network can then learn from those errors using an algorithm,such as the stochastic gradient descent algorithm, to update the weightsof the neural network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating various layers within aconvolutional neural network (CNN) according to one embodiment. Theinput 402 can comprise a plurality of components. For example, anexemplary CNN used to model image processing can receive input 402describing the red, green, and blue (RGB) components of an input image.The input 402 can be processed by multiple convolutional layers (e.g.,convolutional layer 404, convolutional layer 406). The output from themultiple convolutional layers may optionally be processed by a set offully connected layers 408. Neurons in a fully connected layer have fullconnections to all activations in the previous layer, as previouslydescribed for a feedforward network. The output from the fully connectedlayers 408 can be used to generate an output result from the network.The activations within the fully connected layers 408 can be computedusing matrix multiplication instead of convolution. Not all CNNimplementations make use of fully connected layers 408. For example, insome implementations the convolutional layer 406 can generate output forthe CNN.

The convolutional layers are sparsely connected, which differs fromtraditional neural network configuration found in the fully connectedlayers 408. Traditional neural network layers are fully connected, suchthat every output unit interacts with every input unit. However, theconvolutional layers are sparsely connected because the output of theconvolution of a field is input (instead of the respective state valueof each of the nodes in the field) to the nodes of the subsequent layer,as illustrated. The kernels associated with the convolutional layersperform convolution operations, the output of which is sent to the nextlayer. The dimensionality reduction performed within the convolutionallayers is one aspect that enables the CNN to scale to process largeinputs (e.g., large images).

FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating training and deployment of a deepneural network according to one embodiment. Once a given network hasbeen structured for a task the neural network is trained using atraining dataset 502. Various training frameworks 504 have beendeveloped for the training process. The training framework 504 can hookinto an untrained neural network 506 and enable the untrained neural netto be trained to generate a trained neural net 508.

To start the training process the initial weights may be chosen randomlyor by pre-training using a deep belief network. The training cycle thenbe performed in either a supervised or unsupervised manner.

Supervised learning is a learning method in which training is performedas a mediated operation, such as when the training dataset 502 includesinput paired with the desired output for the input, or where thetraining dataset includes input having known output and the output ofthe neural network is manually graded. The network processes the inputsand compares the resulting outputs against a set of expected or desiredoutputs. Errors are then propagated back through the system. Thetraining framework 504 can adjust the weights that control the untrainedneural network 506. The training framework 504 can provide tools tomonitor how well the untrained neural network 506 is converging towardsa model suitable to generating correct answers based on known inputdata. The training process occurs repeatedly as the weights of thenetwork are adjusted to refine the output generated by the neuralnetwork. The training process can continue until the neural networkreaches a statistically desired accuracy associated with a trainedneural net 508. The trained neural network 508 can then be deployed toimplement any number of machine learning operations.

Unsupervised learning is a learning method in which the network attemptsto train itself using unlabeled data. Thus, for unsupervised learningthe training dataset 502 will include input data without any associatedoutput data. The untrained neural network 506 can learn groupings withinthe unlabeled input and can determine how individual inputs are relatedto the overall dataset. Unsupervised training can be used to generate aself-organizing map, which is a type of trained neural network 507capable of performing operations useful in reducing the dimensionalityof data. Unsupervised training can also be used to perform anomalydetection, which allows the identification of data points in an inputdataset that deviate from the normal patterns of the data.

Referring to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating a data processingarchitecture 600 according to one embodiment is shown. Historicalfeatures of objects 602 in the perception area detected by the ADV arefed into a first neural network 604. The objects may compriseautomobiles, bicycles, pedestrians, etc. The historical features ofobjects may comprise but are not limited to: a location (e.g.,coordinates), a speed (magnitude and direction), an acceleration(magnitude and direction), etc. in a number of previous planning cycles(e.g., 10 previous planning cycles). Before being fed into the firstneural network 604, the object historical features may be concatenatedtogether to form an object feature list. The first neural network 604may be a fully-connected network, such as a multilayer perceptron, thatshares the same parameters (weights) for all objects.

The output of the first neural network 604 may be configured to comprisea small number (e.g., 1-3) of extracted object historical features 606,and becomes the object components 606 of the input to a second neuralnetwork 610. The object components 606 are fed into the second neuralnetwork 610 together with map information components 608. The mapinformation components 608 are generated based on map and routeinformation 311 (e.g., a high-definition map), and may comprise but arenot limited to: a lane feature component, a traffic signal component, astatic object component, a general map information component, etc. forthe perception area.

In one embodiment, the perception area may be a rectangular area, andmay be further subdivided into a plurality of equally sized rectangularblocks based on a grid. The perception area may approximately correspondto the perception range of the ADV. For example, the perception area maybe 100 meters long and 40 meters wide. The size of the blocks that makeup the perception area may be empirically chosen, and in one embodiment,may be chosen so that each block may contain no more than one object ata time. For example, the blocks may be 2 meters by 2 meters.

Before being fed into the second neural network 610, the objectcomponents 606 and the map information components 608 may be labeledbased on the grid subdivision. In other words, the extracted objecthistorical features and the map information (lanes, traffic signals,static objects, etc.) may be labeled with the blocks with which they areassociated. Thus, individual components of the input to the secondneural network 610, which comprise object components 606 and mapinformation components 608, as described above, may be visualized asstacked layers that are aligned with each other based on the grid.

The second neural network 610 may be a CNN, and may be configured tooutput data 612 encoding both the extracted historical features of theone or more objects and the map information. The encoded data 612 can beconcatenated with historical features of the ADV 614 (e.g., a position,a speed, an acceleration) from a number of previous planning cycles(e.g., 10 previous planning cycles), before being fed into a thirdneural network 616. The third neural network 616 then generates one ormore yield/overtake decisions 618 for the one or more objects, eachobject corresponding to one decision.

It should be appreciated that the first, second, and third neuralnetworks 604, 610, 616 need to be trained with a training data setcomprising driving (e.g., human driving) and object behavior groundtruth data and map information before they can be used to makepredictions for ADV operations. Before used for training, the trainingdata set may be automatically labeled with the yield/overtake decisionsactually made based on the time instants the subject vehicle and thedifferent objects reach the crossing point (the point where the path ofthe subject vehicle and the path of a moving object intersect). If anobject reaches the crossing point before the subject vehicle, theassociated decision is labeled “yield.” If the subject vehicle reachesthe crossing point before an object, the associated decision is labeled“overtake.” If the path of the subject vehicle and the path of an objectdo not intersect, the associated decision is labeled “unknown.”

Referring to FIG. 7, a diagram 700 illustrating an example method forautomatically labeling training data with yield/overtake decisionsaccording to one embodiment is shown. The path 704 of the subjectvehicle 702 intersects the path 714 of a first moving object 712 at acrossing point 710, and intersects the path 724 of a second movingobject 722 at a crossing point 720. The time instants when the subjectvehicle 702 reaches crossing points 710, 720 are compared with timeinstants when the moving objects 712, 722 reach the respective crossingpoints. If a moving object reaches the crossing point before the subjectvehicle, the associated decision is labeled “yield.” If the subjectvehicle reaches the crossing point before a moving object, theassociated decision is labeled “overtake.” If the path of the subjectvehicle and the path of a moving object do not intersect, the associateddecision is labeled “unknown.”

Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, diagrams 800A, 800B illustrating examplevisual representations of data according to one embodiment are shown. Itshould be appreciated that FIGS. 8A and 8B are for illustrative purposesonly, and the numbers of elements shown (e.g., blocks, layers, objects,etc.) do not limit the disclosure. FIG. 8A illustrates a rectangularperception and prediction area 800A of the ADV that is subdivided intoequally sized rectangular blocks based on a grid. FIG. 8B illustrates avisualized representation 800B of the map information components 606 andthe object components 608 that are fed into the second neural network.As previously described, the map information components 606 and theobject components 608 are aligned based on the grid. The map informationcomponents (layers) 606 may comprise, e.g., one or more of: a lanefeature component (layer), a traffic signal component (layer), a staticobject component (layer), or a general map information component(layer). It should be appreciated that the object components 608associated with a same block comprise extracted object historicalfeatures related to a same object.

Referring to FIG. 9, a flowchart illustrating an example method 900 formaking a decision in operating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) usingmachine learning, according to one embodiment, is shown. The method 900may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both(e.g., system 1500 of FIG. 10). At block 910, one or more yield/overtakedecisions are made with respect to one or more objects in the ADV'ssurrounding environment using a data processing architecture comprisingat least a first, a second, and a third neural networks, the first, thesecond, and the third neural networks having been trained with atraining data set. At block 920, driving signals are generated based atleast in part on the yield/overtake decisions to control operations ofthe ADV.

In one embodiment, the one or more objects comprise automobiles,bicycles, and/or pedestrians in a perception area of the ADV. The firstneural network is a multilayer perceptron. The second neural network isa convolutional neural network (CNN). Further, the third neural networkis a fully-connected network.

In one embodiment, the first neural network receives historical featuresof the one or more objects from one or more previous planning cycles asinputs, and generates extracted historical features of the one or moreobjects as outputs. The second neural network receives the extractedhistorical features of the one or more objects and map information asinputs, and generates data encoding both the extracted historicalfeatures of the one or more objects and the map information as outputs.Further, the third neural network receives the encoded data andhistorical features of the ADV as inputs, and generates the one or moreyield/overtake decisions comprising decisions with respect to each ofthe one or more objects as outputs.

In one embodiment, the historical features of the one or more objectscomprise one or more of: a position, a speed, or an acceleration, andthe map information is derived from a high-definition map and comprisesone or more of: a lane feature component, a traffic signal component, astatic object component, or a general map information component.

In one embodiment, the extracted historical features of the one or moreobjects and the map information are labeled with associated blockinformation based on a grid subdivision of a rectangular perception areaof the ADV, the grid subdivision comprising subdividing the rectangularperception area of the ADV into a plurality of uniformly sizedrectangular blocks based on a grid.

Note that some or all of the components as shown and described above maybe implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Forexample, such components can be implemented as software installed andstored in a persistent storage device, which can be loaded and executedin a memory by a processor (not shown) to carry out the processes oroperations described throughout this application. Alternatively, suchcomponents can be implemented as executable code programmed or embeddedinto dedicated hardware such as an integrated circuit (e.g., anapplication specific IC or ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or afield programmable gate array (FPGA), which can be accessed via acorresponding driver and/or operating system from an application.Furthermore, such components can be implemented as specific hardwarelogic in a processor or processor core as part of an instruction setaccessible by a software component via one or more specificinstructions.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data processingsystem which may be used with one embodiment of the disclosure. Forexample, system 1500 may represent any of data processing systemsdescribed above performing any of the processes or methods describedabove, such as, for example, perception and planning system 110 or anyof servers 103-104 of FIG. 1. System 1500 can include many differentcomponents. These components can be implemented as integrated circuits(ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modulesadapted to a circuit board such as a motherboard or add-in card of thecomputer system, or as components otherwise incorporated within achassis of the computer system.

Note also that system 1500 is intended to show a high level view of manycomponents of the computer system. However, it is to be understood thatadditional components may be present in certain implementations andfurthermore, different arrangement of the components shown may occur inother implementations. System 1500 may represent a desktop, a laptop, atablet, a server, a mobile phone, a media player, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a Smartwatch, a personal communicator, a gaming device,a network router or hub, a wireless access point (AP) or repeater, aset-top box, or a combination thereof. Further, while only a singlemachine or system is illustrated, the term “machine” or “system” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines or systems thatindividually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructionsto perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

In one embodiment, system 1500 includes processor 1501, memory 1503, anddevices 1505-1508 connected via a bus or an interconnect 1510. Processor1501 may represent a single processor or multiple processors with asingle processor core or multiple processor cores included therein.Processor 1501 may represent one or more general-purpose processors suchas a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), or the like. Moreparticularly, processor 1501 may be a complex instruction set computing(CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC)microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, orprocessor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. Processor 1501 may alsobe one or more special-purpose processors such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a cellular or baseband processor, afield programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP),a network processor, a graphics processor, a communications processor, acryptographic processor, a co-processor, an embedded processor, or anyother type of logic capable of processing instructions.

Processor 1501, which may be a low power multi-core processor socketsuch as an ultra-low voltage processor, may act as a main processingunit and central hub for communication with the various components ofthe system. Such processor can be implemented as a system on chip (SoC).Processor 1501 is configured to execute instructions for performing theoperations and steps discussed herein. System 1500 may further include agraphics interface that communicates with optional graphics subsystem1504, which may include a display controller, a graphics processor,and/or a display device.

Processor 1501 may communicate with memory 1503, which in one embodimentcan be implemented via multiple memory devices to provide for a givenamount of system memory. Memory 1503 may include one or more volatilestorage (or memory) devices such as random access memory (RAM), dynamicRAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), or other typesof storage devices. Memory 1503 may store information includingsequences of instructions that are executed by processor 1501, or anyother device. For example, executable code and/or data of a variety ofoperating systems, device drivers, firmware (e.g., input output basicsystem or BIOS), and/or applications can be loaded in memory 1503 andexecuted by processor 1501. An operating system can be any kind ofoperating systems, such as, for example, Robot Operating System (ROS),Windows® operating system from Microsoft®, Mac OS®/iOS® from Apple,Android® from Google®, LINUX, UNIX, or other real-time or embeddedoperating systems.

System 1500 may further include IO devices such as devices 1505-1508,including network interface device(s) 1505, optional input device(s)1506, and other optional IO device(s) 1507. Network interface device1505 may include a wireless transceiver and/or a network interface card(NIC). The wireless transceiver may be a WiFi transceiver, an infraredtransceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a WiMax transceiver, a wirelesscellular telephony transceiver, a satellite transceiver (e.g., a globalpositioning system (GPS) transceiver), or other radio frequency (RF)transceivers, or a combination thereof. The NIC may be an Ethernet card.

Input device(s) 1506 may include a mouse, a touch pad, a touch sensitivescreen (which may be integrated with display device 1504), a pointerdevice such as a stylus, and/or a keyboard (e.g., physical keyboard or avirtual keyboard displayed as part of a touch sensitive screen). Forexample, input device 1506 may include a touch screen controller coupledto a touch screen. The touch screen and touch screen controller can, forexample, detect contact and movement or break thereof using any of aplurality of touch sensitivity technologies, including but not limitedto capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wavetechnologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elementsfor determining one or more points of contact with the touch screen.

IO devices 1507 may include an audio device. An audio device may includea speaker and/or a microphone to facilitate voice-enabled functions,such as voice recognition, voice replication, digital recording, and/ortelephony functions. Other IO devices 1507 may further include universalserial bus (USB) port(s), parallel port(s), serial port(s), a printer, anetwork interface, a bus bridge (e.g., a PCI-PCI bridge), sensor(s)(e.g., a motion sensor such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, amagnetometer, a light sensor, compass, a proximity sensor, etc.), or acombination thereof. Devices 1507 may further include an imagingprocessing subsystem (e.g., a camera), which may include an opticalsensor, such as a charged coupled device (CCD) or a complementarymetal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) optical sensor, utilized to facilitatecamera functions, such as recording photographs and video clips. Certainsensors may be coupled to interconnect 1510 via a sensor hub (notshown), while other devices such as a keyboard or thermal sensor may becontrolled by an embedded controller (not shown), dependent upon thespecific configuration or design of system 1500.

To provide for persistent storage of information such as data,applications, one or more operating systems and so forth, a mass storage(not shown) may also couple to processor 1501. In various embodiments,to enable a thinner and lighter system design as well as to improvesystem responsiveness, this mass storage may be implemented via a solidstate device (SSD). However in other embodiments, the mass storage mayprimarily be implemented using a hard disk drive (HDD) with a smalleramount of SSD storage to act as a SSD cache to enable non-volatilestorage of context state and other such information during power downevents so that a fast power up can occur on re-initiation of systemactivities. Also a flash device may be coupled to processor 1501, e.g.,via a serial peripheral interface (SPI). This flash device may providefor non-volatile storage of system software, including BIOS as well asother firmware of the system.

Storage device 1508 may include computer-accessible storage medium 1509(also known as a machine-readable storage medium or a computer-readablemedium) on which is stored one or more sets of instructions or software(e.g., module, unit, and/or logic 1528) embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. Processingmodule/unit/logic 1528 may represent any of the components describedabove, such as, for example, planning module 305, control module 306,machine learning module 308. Processing module/unit/logic 1528 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within memory 1503 and/orwithin processor 1501 during execution thereof by data processing system1500, memory 1503 and processor 1501 also constitutingmachine-accessible storage media. Processing module/unit/logic 1528 mayfurther be transmitted or received over a network via network interfacedevice 1505.

Computer-readable storage medium 1509 may also be used to store the somesoftware functionalities described above persistently. Whilecomputer-readable storage medium 1509 is shown in an exemplaryembodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable storagemedium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cachesand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The terms“computer-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include anymedium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions forexecution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term“computer-readable storage medium” shall accordingly be taken toinclude, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical andmagnetic media, or any other non-transitory machine-readable medium.

Processing module/unit/logic 1528, components and other featuresdescribed herein can be implemented as discrete hardware components orintegrated in the functionality of hardware components such as ASICS,FPGAs, DSPs or similar devices. In addition, processingmodule/unit/logic 1528 can be implemented as firmware or functionalcircuitry within hardware devices. Further, processing module/unit/logic1528 can be implemented in any combination hardware devices and softwarecomponents.

Note that while system 1500 is illustrated with various components of adata processing system, it is not intended to represent any particulararchitecture or manner of interconnecting the components; as suchdetails are not germane to embodiments of the present disclosure. Itwill also be appreciated that network computers, handheld computers,mobile phones, servers, and/or other data processing systems which havefewer components or perhaps more components may also be used withembodiments of the disclosure.

Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presentedin terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations ondata bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the ways used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to adesired result. The operations are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, itis appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as those set forth in the claims below, refer to the actionand processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computingdevice, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments of the disclosure also relate to an apparatus for performingthe operations herein. Such a computer program is stored in anon-transitory computer readable medium. A machine-readable mediumincludes any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by amachine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable (e.g.,computer-readable) medium includes a machine (e.g., a computer) readablestorage medium (e.g., read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory(“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flashmemory devices).

The processes or methods depicted in the preceding figures may beperformed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g. circuitry,dedicated logic, etc.), software (e.g., embodied on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium), or a combination of both. Although theprocesses or methods are described above in terms of some sequentialoperations, it should be appreciated that some of the operationsdescribed may be performed in a different order. Moreover, someoperations may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are not described with referenceto any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that avariety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachingsof embodiments of the disclosure as described herein.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the disclosure have beendescribed with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. Itwill be evident that various modifications may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure as setforth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for making adecision in operating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) using machinelearning, comprising: making one or more yield/overtake decisions withrespect to one or more objects in the ADV's surrounding environmentusing a data processing architecture comprising at least a first, asecond, and a third neural networks, the first, the second, and thethird neural networks having been trained with a training data set; andgenerating driving signals based at least in part on the yield/overtakedecisions to control operations of the ADV.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the first neural network is a multilayer perceptron (MLP),wherein the second neural network is a convolutional neural network(CNN), and wherein the third neural network is a fully-connectednetwork.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first neural networkreceives historical features of the one or more objects from one or moreprevious planning cycles as inputs, and generates extracted historicalfeatures of the one or more objects as outputs.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein the second neural network receives the extracted historicalfeatures of the one or more objects and map information as inputs, andgenerates data encoding both the extracted historical features of theone or more objects and the map information as outputs.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the third neural network receives the encoded data andhistorical features of the ADV as inputs, and generates the one or moreyield/overtake decisions comprising decisions with respect to each ofthe one or more objects as outputs.
 6. The method of claim 3, whereinthe historical features of the one or more objects comprise one or moreof: a position, a speed, or an acceleration, and wherein the mapinformation is derived from a high-definition map and comprises one ormore of: a lane feature component, a traffic signal component, a staticobject component, or a general map information component.
 7. The methodof claim 3, wherein the extracted historical features of the one or moreobjects and the map information are labeled with associated blockinformation based on a grid subdivision of a rectangular perception areaof the ADV, the grid subdivision comprising subdividing the rectangularperception area of the ADV into a plurality of uniformly sizedrectangular blocks based on a grid.
 8. The method of claim 5, whereinthe encoded data and the historical features of the ADV are concatenatedbefore being fed into the third neural network.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the training data set comprises previously recorded drivingand perception data automatically labeled with yield/overtake decisions.10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions storedtherein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform operations for making a decision in operating an autonomousdriving vehicle (ADV) using machine learning, the operations comprising:making one or more yield/overtake decisions with respect to one or moreobjects in the ADV's surrounding environment using a data processingarchitecture comprising at least a first, a second, and a third neuralnetworks, the first, the second, and the third neural networks havingbeen trained with a training data set; and generating driving signalsbased at least in part on the yield/overtake decisions to controloperations of the ADV.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 10, wherein the first neural network is a multilayer perceptron,wherein the second neural network is a convolutional neural network(CNN), and wherein the third neural network is a fully-connectednetwork.
 12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11,wherein the first neural network receives historical features of the oneor more objects from one or more previous planning cycles as inputs, andgenerates extracted historical features of the one or more objects asoutputs.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12,wherein the second neural network receives the extracted historicalfeatures of the one or more objects and map information as inputs, andgenerates data encoding both the extracted historical features of theone or more objects and the map information as outputs.
 14. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the thirdneural network receives the encoded data and historical features of theADV as inputs, and generates the one or more yield/overtake decisionscomprising decisions with respect to each of the one or more objects asoutputs.
 15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12,wherein the historical features of the one or more objects comprise oneor more of: a position, a speed, or an acceleration, and wherein the mapinformation is derived from a high-definition map and comprises one ormore of: a lane feature component, a traffic signal component, a staticobject component, or a general map information component.
 16. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein theextracted historical features of the one or more objects and the mapinformation are labeled with associated block information based on agrid subdivision of a rectangular perception area of the ADV, the gridsubdivision comprising subdividing the rectangular perception area ofthe ADV into a plurality of uniformly sized rectangular blocks based ona grid.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14,wherein the encoded data and the historical features of the ADV areconcatenated before being fed into the third neural network.
 18. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the trainingdata set comprises previously recorded driving and perception dataautomatically labeled with yield/overtake decisions.
 19. A dataprocessing system, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to theprocessor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor,cause the processor to perform operations for making a decision inoperating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) using machine learning,the operations including making one or more yield/overtake decisionswith respect to one or more objects in the ADV's surrounding environmentusing a data processing architecture comprising at least a first, asecond, and a third neural networks, the first, the second, and thethird neural networks having been trained with a training data set, andgenerating driving signals based at least in part on the yield/overtakedecisions to control operations of the ADV.
 20. The data processingsystem of claim 17, wherein the first neural network is a multilayerperceptron, wherein the second neural network is a convolutional neuralnetwork (CNN), and wherein the third neural network is a fully-connectednetwork.
 21. The data processing system of claim 20, wherein the firstneural network receives historical features of the one or more objectsfrom one or more previous planning cycles as inputs, and generatesextracted historical features of the one or more objects as outputs. 22.The data processing system of claim 21, wherein the second neuralnetwork receives the extracted historical features of the one or moreobjects and map information as inputs, and generates data encoding boththe extracted historical features of the one or more objects and the mapinformation as outputs.
 23. The data processing system of claim 22,wherein the third neural network receives the encoded data andhistorical features of the ADV as inputs, and generates the one or moreyield/overtake decisions comprising decisions with respect to each ofthe one or more objects as outputs.